Ukrainian soldiers have already started their training in handling the British Challenger 2 tanks as kyiv asks its partners to accelerate and expand arms shipments in the face of the difficult situation in eastern Ukraine, where increases the intensity of Russian attacks.

“Ukrainian tank crews have arrived in the UK to begin training for their fight against Russia,” the British Defense Ministry announced on Twitter on Monday, where it posted photos of Ukrainian servicemen descending from a Royal Air Force aircraft.

As reported by the Ukrainian ambassador to France, Vadym Omelchenko, The West has officially approved “the supply of 321 tanks to Ukraine.”

A figure that is close to that claimed by the commander in chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Valery Zaluzhny, who had stated that the army needs at least 300 tanks to carry out a new offensive.

Volodimir Zelensky calls for urgent shipments

Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky called for “accelerate events, speed up supply and open up new options for weapons needed by Ukraine.”

To this end, it is “very important to maintain the momentum of defense support from our partners,” he said, noting that “speed of supply has been and will be one of the key factors in this war.”

Zelenski received a new endorsement on Monday from the Polish prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, who did not rule out in a press conference that Warsaw will deliver F-16 fighter jets to Kiev “in coordination with NATO countries”, something the West has not shown consent.

The Ukrainian president has already justified his claims the terrible situation at the front, especially in Donetsk, which is “very tough”: Bakhmut, Vuhledar and other areas of this region are subjected to continuous Russian attacks, with “continuous attempts to break through” the Ukrainian defenses.

The US Institute for the Study of War (ISW) acknowledged that “the military aid provided by the Western coalition led by Washington was essential for the survival of Ukraine”, but decoupled the delays of these deliveries, periodically criticized by kyiv, of the few ukrainian advances.

“Factors endogenous to Ukrainian military and political decision-making have contributed to delaying counter-offensives,” the ISW said, refraining from rating Ukrainian military decisions as “optimal”.

Russia doubles the pressure in the east

Meanwhile, Russia is taking advantage of the fact that the West has not yet sent its armored personnel carriers to double the pressure on eastern Ukraine.

The Ukrainian command recognized in its part of the war that “the enemy carries out offensive operations in the Liman, Bakhmut, Avdiivka and Novopavlivka directions”, in the Donetsk region of Ukraine.

For his part, said the spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry, Igor Konashenkov the Russian advance in the southern regions of Donetsk and Zaporizhia, where Russian troops “occupied more favorable positions.”

“As part of the offensive of Army Group South in the Donetsk direction over the past 24 hours, more than 70 Ukrainian soldiers, one tank, one armored personnel carrier, two cars, two Grad multiple launchers, one D-30 howitzer, were destroyed and an American-made AN/TPQ-50 radar,” he said.

He also claimed responsibility for the destruction during the last day of a Gvozdika self-propelled gun and an artillery ammunition depot of the Ukrainian army in the southern Kherson region, where kyiv denounced the attacks that killed at least three civilians the day before and left at least ten others wounded.

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The interim leader imposed by Russia in Donetsk, Denís Pushilin, assured that Russian troops “have established themselves east of Vuhledar and work is also being done on its outskirts”, while acknowledging that it is still too early to predict the capture of this city. .

The Russians consider Vuhledar an important logistics center, the capture of which would cut off the supply of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the direction of Marinka, near the city of Donetsk.

The Ukrainian General Staff did not confirm the alleged Russian advance in the eastern part of Vuhledar, but acknowledged that the city is “under enemy fire”.

Pushilin further argued that the capture of the town of Blahodatne, north of Bakhmut, which the Russian mercenary group Wagner attributes to itself but which Ukraine also denies, allowed Russian forces to “improve their positions and cut off one of the of supply of Ukrainian units” supplying this coveted stronghold.

Source: EFE

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